News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

An Antrim couple's teamwork has culminated in them raising a fantastic $3,125 for Friends of the Cancer Centre, the charity of our regional center of excellence in cancer care based at the Belfast City Hospital.

John and Donna Taylor were motivated to raise funds for Friends of the Cancer Centre as a couple of close family members have been treated at the Cancer Centre in recent years.
John decided to challenge himself and decided to run his first ever marathon in Belfast in May.
[Source: Antrim Guardian]
ARMAGH

A 35-year-old woman, believed to be the mother of two children reported as missing while under the care of social services, appeared in court in Newry last Monday charged in relation to their abduction.

A 48-year-old man also appeared at Newry Magistrate’s Court on August 4 charged with Child Abduction, following the disappearance of three-year-old Fernando Boyle and his six-year-old sister, Pinar Boyle two days earlier.

The children, who are under the care of the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, went missing with their mother, 35-year-old Elizabeth Boyle, after an arranged meeting at Cheeky Monkeys Play Centre, Sheepsbridge, on Thursday, August 2.
[Source: Examiner Newspaper]

CARLOW

It may have been a miserable month, but at least we Carlovians had less rain this July than anywhere else in Ireland.

Figures compiled by Met Éireann registered the lowest rainfall for the summer month at the Oak Park weather station.

And that’s not all . . . the people of Tullow had an even better summer, with local weatherman Alan O’Reilly registering 2.9 inches of rain over the 31 days, compared with Oak Park’s 3 inches.
“By and large, the month wasn’t out of the ordinary. The rainfall wasn’t massively above the average from 1981 to 2010. July was pretty average,” noted Alan.
[Source: Carlow Nationalist]

CAVAN

"I think it will be good because it will generate debate and have people say “What the hell is that? Turn it off!'," predicts a laughing Joe Keenan, of a bonkers video by artist Jenny Keane, due to be screened in every pub in Cavan Town.

Joe, along with artists Siobhan Harton and Sally O'Dowd, is curating an exciting arts juggernaut that's gearing up to be the talk of this year's Fleadh. Key to the project, called trans-art.cavan, is that it brings artworks, some of which are accessible, others a little more challenging to the Fleadh-going masses. Challenging is probably where Jenny's “debate-generating” video of a close-up of a masticating mouth comes in – it's definitely hard to swallow (ahem).
[Source: The Anglo Celt]

CLARE

Clare’s Chief Superintendent has urged those affected by crime to come forward and confront “bullies” by making a complaint, thereby letting them know this behavior will not be tolerated.

Speaking to The Clare Champion, Chief Superintendent Kerin said he didn’t wish to offend anyone with comments he made two weeks ago urging the public to make a complaint or “shut up about it.”

“I hope I didn’t insult anyone because perhaps it came across being arrogant but, at times, our job can be very frustrating because we know of incidents that are happening and people won’t make the complaints for various reasons. They have got to understand that unless we receive a complaint or witness it ourselves, we can do absolutely nothing.

“I fully understand why people are reluctant to come forward; there is a fear element out there but I keep saying that bullies have to be stood up to and if they do, invariably you find they are cowards and they back off. So people should come together and unite and say ‘we are not tolerating this in our community and we are going to stand up for our own communities’,” he said.
[Source: Clare Champion]

CORK

A former Garda (police officer) from Cobh who left the force in July has severely criticized the lack of funding and support for rank and file Gardaí. Niall O' Connor felt he had no option but to leave the force after years of frustration and in going public he has been inundated with messages of support from serving members of the force and the Garda Representative Association (GRA), who are as frustrated as he is.

"For the last few days there's been nothing but positive feedback from rank-and-file Gardaí and sergeants, those who are working out there on the job and the GRA also released a statement backing up what I said. I've also been getting messages of support on Twitter and Facebook as well," said Niall.
[Source: Cork Independent]

DERRY

Controversial road signs welcoming visitors to Northern Ireland are to be erected in Derry and Strabane.

The Northwest signs are among eight that have been, or are to be erected at locations on the north/south border.